Information and electronic technologies have known a rapid, spectacular development leading to an increasing use of electronic and telecommunication products. A variety of quality high technology products such as computers, cellular phones, etc. are continuously commercially available. Such products not only bring a great convenience to our daily life but also shorten distances between people both in space and time. For example, with respect to personal computers (PCs) more advanced models are developed in order to keep pace with the rapidly increasing demand of vast consumers. In this regard, we can know a relative development level of high technology products of a certain country with respect to other countries by determining whether, for example, the produced computers thereof are able to provide a more convenient, effective service to the people of that country.
As known that an expansion slot on a mainboard of a computer is able to connect to one of a variety of expansion cards. The expansion slot may be one of types such as AGP, PCI, ISA, CNR, or AMR. Conventionally, there are more than five PCI slots provided on an ATX mainboard. Also, the more of the number of the expansion slots the higher of the expansion capability of the computer. As such, almost all major mainboard manufactures endeavor to research and develop improved expansion cards and expansion slots for meeting the needs of vast consumers. However, improvement about fastening of the expansion cards is rare.
A typical fastening mechanism for a rear panel of computer is shown in FIG. 1. As shown, a plurality of screws are used to fasten the expansion card. In detail, a mainboard is provided on the bottom of a computer case 2. A plurality of expansion slots 7 are formed on the mainboard. Each expansion slot 7 is able to connect to an inserted expansion card 5. The expansion card 5 comprises a circuit board having a bracket 50 at one end of the circuit board. At least one connector is formed on the bracket 50 at a surface opposite to the circuit board. One end of the bracket 50 is bent to form an engagement piece 501. A hole is formed at the engagement piece 501. An access port cover 8 is provided at each opening at the rear panel associated with the empty expansion slot (i.e., no expansion card 5 insertion therein) 7. Also, a hole is formed at one end of the access port cover 8.
Moreover, a rear panel 3 is provided at the rear side of the case 2 and is disposed corresponding to the expansion slots 7. A plurality of openings 32 are formed on the rear panel 3 and are also disposed corresponding to the expansion slots 7. A threaded hole 33 is formed between one ends of any two adjacent openings 32. The bracket 50 of one expansion card 5 inserted in the expansion slot 7 may engage with the opening 32 at the rear panel 3. Also, the connector is exposed from the case 2 and the engagement piece 501 of the bracket 50 is rested on one side of the rear panel 3. Hence, a plurality of screws 34 may be used to drive through the holes and the threaded holes 33 to secure the brackets 50 to the rear panel 3 and secure the access port covers 8 to the rear panel 3 respectively. As a result, both the expansion cards 5 and the access port covers 8 are reliably mounted on the mainboard.
However, the prior art fastening mechanism for the expansion cards (particularly the above screw threading technique) is disadvantageous due to time-consuming, labor intensive, and inconvenient to user. Thus, users may be frustrated by the tedious expansion card installation procedure if no other effective techniques are employed to eliminate the above disadvantages associated with either insertion or removal of the expansion card. To the worse, users may be reluctant to install the expansion card. Accordingly, a major blow to the expansion card market is foreseeable. In another aspect, companies engaged in high technology product production must not only provide quality goods for meeting the needs of computer assembly DIY (Do-It-Yourself) but also increase an assembly speed of computers at the assembly line. Particularly, the installation of expansion cards is key to an increase of the assembly speed of computers. Thus, continuing improvements in this field are constantly being sought.